Untested in court, Trump’s new tariffs on Canada raise legal questions - AP News
President Trump has invoked the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Act to impose a 50% tariff on Canadian imports, sparking a trade war. Legal experts question the validity of using this obscure, untested statute in modern trade.
Why it matters
The use of Depression-era legislation to bypass modern trade norms creates significant legal and economic uncertainty for international relations.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — In firing up a trade war with Canada, President Donald Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books.
A week ago, Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to slap a 50% tax on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The move prompted dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Ottawa and strained already-tense relations between the neighbors and longtime allies.
The president’s Section 338 tariff authority has never been used, let alone tested in court. “This law is literally a blank canvas because it’s never been litigated,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.
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